Rural Community Rights: Equal Access To Justice

RESOLUTION 15-08.15

Rural Community Rights: Equal Access To Justice

WHEREAS all people have the right to equal access to justice, yet low-income communities, migrants, non-English speakers, tribal members, often live in rural communities far from courthouses, thus there exists a resulting unfair deprivation with unequal access to justice by vulnerable populations; and WHEREAS the precedence for maximum distance to testify or be heard for the purpose of a judicial proceeding is set by current code, which limits to 75 miles the distance a witness must travel when called to testify in a deposition; and

WHEREAS some rural, low income, California residents are required to travel more than 75 miles to be heard in the nearest court of law, thus unfairly depriving them of equal access to justice and burdening them with the extra cost in terms of time and travel expenses hoisted upon them;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the California Democratic Party supports efforts to cover the cost of travel beyond 75 miles for the purpose of requiring attendance for witnesses at civil and criminal proceedings, including depositions; and BE IT

FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Governor Brown, Democratic state constitutional members and Democratic members of the California Legislature.